


Of Birthday Games and Not-Quite Dates

by MarvelousMenagerie (HiddenOne)



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Background Relationships, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Minor Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov, Minor Wanda Maximoff/Sam Wilson, Misunderstandings, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Past Tony Stark/Tiberius Stone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:41:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26128210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenOne/pseuds/MarvelousMenagerie
Summary: “That’s what’s going to be so fun about this game. Who knows Tony better, his boyfriend,” Natasha gestured to Stone, “or someone else?”She didn't look at Bucky, but everyone else did - including Tony.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 393





	Of Birthday Games and Not-Quite Dates

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sagana_Rojana_Olt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sagana_Rojana_Olt/gifts).



“I want to play a game.”

Bucky groaned softly, doing his best to muffle it behind his hand. Natasha’s games never turned out well - at least, not for anyone _except_ Natasha. Even Steve had a look of trepidation, and he was her boyfriend.

“Sweetheart,” Steve tried.

“Nope, you have to play. It’s my birthday,” Natasha said, and she gestured to the crown she had on her head. The crown was a cardboard craft courtesy of Wanda, decorated with glitter and jewel stickers with ‘Birthday Queen’ scrawled across the front. Natasha hadn’t taken it off all night.

“Only for another hour and thirty-six minutes.” Tony tapped his watch, though his grin softened the comment.

Tiberius Stone whispered something in Tony’s ear, and Tony’s face flashed before he’d turned to Stone and was whispering back. Tony had been tucked underneath the man’s arm the entire party like they’d been surgically attached, and Bucky had to look away.

“What game is it?” he asked, hoping that maybe when it was done he could leave.

He loved Natasha like a sister, even before she went and fell in love with his best friend, but watching Tony cozy up to Stone _again_ was something Bucky could only tolerate in small doses. And he’d already reached his limit the moment Stone had walked through the door with Tony tucked under his arm.

Tony hadn’t even warned Bucky he was back with Ty, and that just compounded the hurt. Wasn’t Bucky one of Tony’s best friends, too? He’d kept his hatred of Tony’s on again off again boyfriend quiet - at least when talking to Tony directly.

“The Newlywed Game!” Natasha declared and then gestured for them to cheer. Her drink almost sloshed over the side of the glass.

Sam cackled behind his beer, almost falling over as he leaned into Bucky, but that was about it for reactions.

“Did you forget that none of us are married? You and Steve aren’t even engaged,” Bucky said dryly, daring to be the voice of opposition. Then a thought hit him. “Wait, unless you…?”

Steve was wide-eyed in alarm, not at all what Bucky would expect for a newly engaged couple.

“No,” Natasha scoffed. “It’s for friends too because who cares about being married? We don’t have to wait for fun things.”

Bucky rolled his eyes and muttered to Sam, “Then why call it -”

“I have made up a bunch of questions.” Natasha literally waltzed over to the side of the room where she picked up a mug that was in the shape of one of those little porg birds that was in the latest Star Wars films. Bucky had gotten it for her last birthday. She shook it, and the sound of paper rattled inside. “And we will ask them about one person, and the rest will guess what the correct answer is. We’ll see how well we know each other!”

“You’re the birthday queen,” Steve said, offering his hand out to take the mug.

Natasha yanked it back. “Which means I am the hostess, because that is what I want.”

Warning bells went off in Bucky’s head.

“And the person that we will be answering questions about is…” Natasha trailed off with intentional suspense. Then she closed her eyes and spun around once, twice, three times until she came to a stop and pointed. She opened her eyes, and she was pointing at Stone. “Oh, sorry, that wouldn’t be much fun because no one here really knows you.” Natasha adjusted her arm a little to the side. “So, Tony!”

Tony’s smile seemed pasted on his face, but he shrugged. “I don’t exactly know what we’re doing, but sure let’s start with me.”

“Steve, get everyone white boards and markers,” Natasha commanded.

“We don’t have those, but we can do pads of paper and pens.”

Natasha pouted. “Fine, but that’s not as fun of to reveal.”

“We’ll be fine,” Steve assured as he rustled up enough material for everyone and passed it around.

“I might need another drink for this,” Bucky muttered to Sam.

“Dude, what are you talking about? Who knows Tony better than you?”

Bucky winced at Sam’s volume and elbowed him. “Sh!”

It was too late, Natasha had heard him. Her smile had sharp edges. “That’s what’s going to be so fun about this round. Who knows Tony better, his boyfriend,” Natasha gestured to Stone, “or someone else?”

She didn't look at Bucky, but everyone else did - including Tony. 

Stone snorted and muttered something to Tony that had him elbowing Stone sharply in the ribs. Stone only smirked and took another sip of his drink.

“Everyone ready?” Natasha waited for their confirmation before she made a big show of rummaging around and pulling out one slip of paper. “Alright, so what is Tony’s coffee order?”

“Where am I getting the coffee?” Tony asked as he tapped the end of his pen against his chin. “The dregs of Brooklyn where I just want something that won’t poison me, or Manhattan where I can choose between excellent brews?”

“Fuck off!” Steve called out in defense.

“Don’t be a dick, just play the game,” Natasha sniffed.

Tony gave a big theatrical sigh but started writing down his answer.

“Hey now, no cheating by the boyfriend!” Natasha waved between Tony and Stone. “You two must separate, generate some space there. No cheating allowed!”

Stone rolled his eyes as Tony moved away from him. He scratched an answer out on his paper but it was too short, Bucky noted.

Bucky wrote down his own answer. He made sure to make it obvious that he was covering his paper so that Sam couldn’t see, but when he was done he found himself looking at Tony. But Tony’s head was bent down, looking at his answer like it would turn into the cup of coffee itself if he just stared hard enough.

“Time is up! Everyone show their answers - except for you Tony! More dramatic for you to be last.”

“What the fuck,” Stone muttered too loud, and Tony elbowed him again.

Natasha ignored him and went around reading all the answers out loud for the group.

“Black coffee, good guess Wanda! Sam said anything that goes into an IV, haha how true. Steve also said black coffee. The boyfriend guessed espresso - ugh, that’s bitter. Bucky said, oh hang on that’s a lot - ‘when it’s hot out, nitro cold brew with sweet cream, and every other time it’s a macchiato with a flavor to be decided upon entry to the shop.’”

Bucky didn’t like the look Natasha gave him before she turned to Tony. “Tony? What’s the correct answer, please?”

Tony grinned and flipped his pad of paper around. “Well, given that it’s not hot out, I just said macchiato, but I think Bucky gets a bonus point for accuracy.”

Bucky felt a flush of pride that he tried to tamp down. Of course he knew the answer. He was a good friend. 

And of course Stone didn’t. What did Stone know about Tony other than how much of a dick Howard was and what other people they went to boarding school with once upon a time? Nothing that was actually about _Tony_ but Stone was a fucking terrible boyfriend.

He shook those thoughts from his head. He couldn’t be angry, not at Natasha’s birthday party.

“Next question! In the event of a tragedy, who has Tony asked to wipe his internet history?”

Wanda guessed Natasha, Steve and Sam both guessed Bucky, but Bucky and Stone both got it right that time which had Bucky gritting his teeth.

“No one,” Tony confirmed as he flipped his answer over. “Because I have already programmed something to do that for me.”

Bucky knew that, but he doubted Stone did. The raised eyebrow on Stone’s face told him that much.

“What do you have hiding in your search history, hm?” Stone asked, voice slick as oil. “It’s nothing to be _ashamed_ about, is it?”

“No comment,” Tony replied smoothly. “What’s the next question, Nat?”

The next question everyone got right - what does Tony actually do for a living and what is the name of the organization called? - and the one after that - how would Tony rank his driving skills compared to his _actual_ driving skills? - most of them got right with some lines of ‘accurate’ because Tony sometimes went to a NASCAR track to race. Wanda missed it, because she was new to the group, and Bucky wanted to take Stone’s point away because ‘over-inflated’ shouldn’t actually count even if Tony joked he did talk big.

Bucky was the only one to get ‘what is Tony’s favorite drink?’ right with ‘smoothie,’ even though Steve tried to protest and say that a smoothie didn’t qualify as an actual _drink_. Natasha took him to task for being a sore loser. Then Bucky and Sam guessed Tony’s favorite Harry Potter book - Prisoner of Azkaban - and Bucky accused Sam of cheating while Sam defended himself saying that Prisoner of Azkaban is the only correct answer to that question anyway.

Stone hadn’t thought Tony had read any of the Harry Potter books.

Bucky bit his lip, trying to keep the smugness off his face as Natasha pulled out what she said would be the last question for the round. He’d already won by a landslide, and the annoyed expression on Stone’s face was icing on the cake.

“What does Tony actually want for dinner?” Natasha read.

Bucky scoffed, rolling his eyes as he wrote down his answer. Even Stone had to know that one, because really.

Wanda had a good guess of pasta, and Bucky mentally gave her half a point for that. Even Steve and Sam got the answer right with carbonara, though Bucky’s was the most accurate of ‘Maria Stark’s carbonara.’ When Stone put down the name of a chophouse restaurant in downtown Manhattan, Bucky couldn’t help himself.

“What? What the fuck is that? Do you two even fucking talk?” Bucky asked Stone.

“If by talk you mean scream my name.” Stone smirked. “Maybe if some of these questions were important ones, like how to get Tony off in less than five minutes - ”

“Ty!” Tony protested.

“Or his favorite position, or how to make him beg -”

“Shut the fuck up,” Tony said, slapping his hand over Stone’s mouth.

Stone shoved Tony’s hand off “Don’t slap me. I didn’t want to come to his damn thing anyway.”

“Then you’re very much excused,” Natasha said, her voice too calm.

“Excuse us,” Tony said to the group as he grabbed Stone and hustled him out of the room.

Natasha walked over to where Tony had abandoned his pad, and flipped it over to show the group. “His mom’s carbonara. Look at that.” She shot another look at Bucky, and he stood up.

“I need some air,” Bucky explained to no one as he headed for the sliding glass door to the balcony. It was more of a ledge on the outside, really, but enough of one to stand on and there was a railing to keep people from falling. Natasha had gotten a planter to grow herbs, but there wasn’t anything green growing there now. The wind whistled by, the cold piercing through Bucky’s shirt, but he felt more able to breathe than inside.

He shouldn’t have gone after Stone like that. Everyone already knew what the score was, and he didn’t have to press. He had made it awkward, and now Tony and Stone were gone. While Bucky was glad he didn’t have to deal with Tony tucked under the guy’s arm anymore, he hadn’t wanted to force Tony to leave because Bucky was being an ass.

Well, Stone had been the bigger ass. Maybe Bucky needed to try that sometime, if that’s what Tony’s type was.

He sighed and reminded himself that was a fucking stupid plan, even for him. He didn’t want to be anything like Stone, he just wanted -

The door slid open, and it was Tony who wedged himself onto the ledge enough to close the door behind him.

“Hey.”

Bucky shook his head. “Thought you’d be headed out to go calm down your boyfriend.”

Tony grimaced. “Nah, sent him home in a cab. Or, well, I told the cabbie his address. He’ll probably end up a bar and keep drinking, and then in someone else’s bed for the night.”

Bucky gripped the railing so hard his knuckles turned white. “Damn it, Tony, what the fuck are you doing getting back together with him? Don’t you think you deserve better? Because you do!”

That was the wrong way to convince Tony, and Bucky knew it. He couldn’t just come right out and say that Stone was shit, he had to coax Tony into saying it because Tony refused to see how he deserved the _best_.

But Tony’s reply was easily enough. “Yeah, he’s not great. The good news is that I’m not with him. Not anymore, at least.”

Bucky eyed Tony, who was much more clear-eyed and put together than Bucky expected after yet another breakup. “Really.”

Tony grinned, sheepish. “We weren’t together tonight at all, in my defense, it’s just that I didn’t want to show up alone.”

Bucky hoped his face was conveying his confusion.

“Nat said that you were bringing Wanda, and I… maybe thought I should find a date too.”

“I -” Bucky didn’t even know how to approach that. “Wanda wasn’t my _date_. Nat asked me to give her a ride because she lived on my block.”

“Yeah, that makes sense, given your lack of -” Tony waved back inside. “Yeah. My bad on that one.”

“I wouldn’t bring a new date to Natasha’s party,” Bucky defended. His heart hurt at the thought of it, and suddenly all his feelings hurt too much to keep inside. He could blame it on the drink, if this went south, or maybe just Stone in general because Bucky thought a lot of things were Stone’s fault, but he had to tell Tony because it was too painful not too. “You’re the only one I want to date right now.”

Tony’s eyes were the warmest brown, and Bucky loved looking at them. Especially with how wide and inviting those eyes were right then.

“Right now?” Tony cracked a small smile. “Does that include tomorrow? And the weekends? Like how far in the future does the dating thing go for you, just so I get a sense of the time line of it all.”

“You don’t have to mock me.” Bucky stared down at the traffic, his throat tight.

“Jesus, _Bucky_.” Tony’s hands wrapped themselves in Bucky’s shirt and pulled. “I want to date you too, okay? That’s what I mean, and I want more than just right now, I think, maybe. I mean, I don’t want to ruin our friendship because I really like you, as a friend but also - more. If we could add the other romantic bits that would be really great, I think, and I’m hoping it’s not just me.”

Bucky could barely dare to believe what he was hearing. “Really?”

Tony nodded, and Bucky cupped Tony’s jaw in his hands. He had to ask again. “Really?”

“You’re so good at listening to everything else I say, why the fuck can’t you hear me now?” Tony whined. “ _Date me._ ”

“Okay." Bucky was grinning, and he couldn't stop. But he needed to, because, "But first I’m going to kiss you.”

Tony yanked Bucky down and kissed him first. 

* * *

“This was because Bucky gave me a ride?” Wanda asked, burying her head in her hands. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Sam soothed. “They’re just idiots, the both of them.”

The sliding glass door didn’t hide Bucky and Tony’s kiss from view, and it certainly hadn’t done much to muffle their voices of their argument before.

“If anyone is to blame, it is me,” Natasha said proudly. She perched on Steve’s lap and dragged another question out of the mug. “I was tired of them being so dumb so I intervened. You’re all welcome. What is my favorite lounge wear?”

“One of my shirts,” Steve answered, his hands resting on Natasha’s hips.

“That is _your_ favorite of my lounge wear.”

“And you like how I appreciate you wearing my favorite, so it’s your favorite too,” Steve replied cheekily.

“Ugh, I swear they’re not always this gross or I wouldn’t hang out with them,” Sam confided to Wanda.

Wanda giggled, and Sam winked. Then Sam saw the knowing look Natasha was giving him, and he frowned. No way, this couldn’t be another one of her plans.

Natasha gestured to the crown on her head, and Sam rolled his eyes but said nothing. He couldn’t tell her quit scheming, not on her birthday. Tomorrow, though, there had to be boundaries.

Still…

“You need another drink?” Sam asked Wanda, gesturing to her glass.

Natasha wasn’t often wrong. 


End file.
